All posts by Lindsey

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

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So sorry that it’s taken a month to update! Mama is still making progress, though the pace is much slower (which is to be expected). She’s still attending 6 hour therapy sessions four days a week, and she’s doing more at home. Over Thanksgiving Bo and I went to Jacksonville for the holiday, and we all went to Thanksgiving dinner at a local country club so that we didn’t have to deal with cooking or cleaning. While we were home we also went to see the new Harry Potter movie, and it was Mama’s first time at a movie theater since the accident. We’d been concerned that since she’s sensitive to loud sounds and has been having some trouble with dizziness/vertigo that a movie might not be a good idea, but she did great!

Now that Mama’s slowly becoming more active she’s helped with organizing some things around the house and starting to help cook meals as well. She barely remembers anything from being at Mayo, and we’re getting her up to date with everything that happened. She’s amazed at how many visitors she had, and is so grateful for all the love and support she’s been receiving from friends and family. She looks great (with the way she parts her hair you can’t even see the scar on her head), and she’s feeling better each week.

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Day 41, Night

Home, Week Six

Mama was released from in-patient care at the rehabilitation center on Wednesday, and she was able to go home!  She’s been resting and getting settled into being at home, and she’ll start out-patient therapy on Monday.  She’ll go back to the rehabilitation center 4 days a week for about 6 hours each day, but she’s thrilled to be at home and is enjoying her own bed and the dogs!

She continues to progress a little each day.  She’s able to walk on her own to a degree, though not without someone else being present.  Her appetite has improved, and she’s able to follow along with a television show or a movie.

Day 33, Night

In-Patient Rehabilitation, Week Five

Yesterday Mama got to take a field trip! As a part of her therapy the day before she had to create a list of things to buy at Walgreens, and yesterday she actually went on a shopping trip. Mama, Daddy, and two therapists visited the Walgreens next door to the rehab center. The first (and most important) item on her list was a Hershey bar, which she promptly devoured upon returning to her room. She had to find all the items from her list without help, and then take them to the register, pay for them, and make correct change.

She’s still needing some assistance to maintain her balance walking, but after today she will have to walk to her therapy sessions rather than go to them in a wheelchair. Her target date for going home is October 13th and she is looking forward to next Wednesday.

Day 22, Morning

In-Patient Rehabilitation, Week Four

Mama spent Thursday and Friday in full-day therapy sessions, and while the progress is slow, it is encouraging.  They do lighter therapy on the weekends and then get back to it full force on Monday.  She’s motivated to work hard in therapy, so that gives her a bit of an edge that will be good for her!  The therapy is very strenuous and tiring, but her attitude has been good about that.

We’re still not sure how long she’s going to be at the rehabilitation center, but the therapists and doctors on her team are having a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a plan of action, so we may have a better idea at that time.

Due to the tiring nature of this intense therapy, they’d prefer Mama to rest when she’s not working, so they’d like to keep visitors to a minimum.  Her room is also very short on counter space, and while Mama appreciates the flowers people have sent, we’ve run out of room already!  She knows about this website and she knows people have been sending cards, so once her concentration improves a bit she wants to read all the lovely things people have been saying to her.

Day 18, Night

In-Patient Rehabilitation, Week Three

Today Mama spent the day getting settled into the rehabilitation center. She did have some light therapy this morning, but she mostly spent the day getting oriented to her new environment. The more intense therapy will begin in the morning, and she’ll do therapy for the full day everyday from this point forward.

Her appetite is starting to get a little better, and the anti-anxiety medication is helping her some. Mama is looking forward to doing whatever she needs to do to get better. Thank you so much to everyone for your continued prayers and comments. We’re going to start bringing the cards everyone has sent to her so that as she feels up to reading she’ll have some positive and encouraging things to read!

Day 17, Night

In-Patient Rehabilitation, Week Three

This afternoon Mama was transferred from Mayo Hospital to Brooks Rehabilitation.  She will be doing in-patient rehabilitation for a while – typically patients with brain injuries remain in-patient for at least two weeks, depending on the individual.  She still needs help with most everything (she can’t get out of bed without a nurse, she still needs help eating, etc.), so we’ve still got a ways to go, but she was thrilled to be leaving the hospital.

They removed the staples from her head yesterday and today she became IV-free, so it’s been a big day or so!  However, she’s still very anxious, so we continue to pray for peace of mind and patience in her recovery.

Day 15, Night

Regular Hospital, Week Three

Mama walked halfway down the hall and then walked back today, so she doubled her distance from yesterday.  She’s glad to be in her new room, though she’s getting more anxious about being in the hospital.  Mama’s frustrated by the effort it takes to do anything – get up, move around, eat . . . even just laying in the bed is a bit of an effort because she switches between hot and cold so often.  The doctors have hinted that she may get to leave the hospital this week and move to Brooks Rehabilitation where she’ll likely be an in-patient for a while.  She’s talking a LOT more and is having regular conversations with us now.  She didn’t sleep much last night, so hopefully her anxiety will go down some so that she’ll be able to get some sleep!

Day 14, Night

Regular Hospital, SICU, Week Two

Mama’s appetite has gotten a lot better today – she had about half of her pancakes and banana at breakfast, most of her turkey sandwich at lunch, and all of her Cheerios and half a piece of pie for supper!  She’s also starting to feed herself some – if we cut up the food, she’s pretty good at getting it to her mouth.  Mama walked halfway down the hallway again, and I think she could have walked back to her room if she hadn’t gotten dizzy from turning around.

She’s still quite restless, and she’s so sick of being in the hospital.  She’s really ready to go home, and she was THRILLED when they released her from the SICU and moved her to a new, regular hospital room this evening.  Now the nurses will check her vitals every 4 hours instead of every hour, so hopefully she’ll get more sleep than she’s been getting.  They’re also removing some of the monitors from her, and since she hates all the beeping noises, she should be more comfortable now.

Day 13, Afternoon

SICU, Week Two

Sorry for the late update – yesterday I was at work all day and then I flew back to Jacksonville last night, so now is the first chance I’m having to update.

Yesterday they removed the feeding tube and she started eating some real food (though when we ask her how her food was, the answer is often “yuck”).  Today they did a minor surgical procedure to remove the filter near her heart (to break up blood clots) that they had put in previously, and once she was finished with that she wanted a Coke so bad!  She’s been doing very well with food so far.

Before she went into the surgery, she had a visit from both the physical therapist and the speech therapist.  With the help of a walker and two physical therapist, she was actually able to walk halfway down the long hallway outside of her room, and her steps are getting more confident.  After that, the speech therapist showed her some cards and asked her to read them, which she did very well.  They asked her some questions and math problems, and she answered most of them correctly.  Then they asked her to write some things, including her own name.  While the handwriting is no where near her regular handwriting, she was able to write all the letters for both her first and last name just fine!

She’s resting a bit now, but she hasn’t really slept any during the day today, and she’s talking a lot more.  She’s saying some sentences, but mostly she’s still just saying words and phrases.  She’s starting to show more interest and wanting things, so that’s great!

Day 11, Morning

SICU, Week Two

Mama had a restless night last night.  As her body becomes more aware, she is now realizing that she can’t find a good position in her bed, the leg massagers that help prevent blood clots are uncomfortable, etc.  We’re so happy that her body is waking up all over, but we hate for her to be so agitated, and I know that she is feeling frustrated.

She’s really enjoying ice chips and yogurt right now.  When I spoke with Daddy earlier he said that she was sitting in a chair, and they were going to be trying to get her to walk a bit more today.  Her room is the last one on the hallway, and there’s a large window at the end of the hallway, so the goal today was to help her walk out of her room and down to the window.

As she’s starting to become more alert, she’s also a lot more aware of where she is and what is going on.  Today she told both Bo and Daddy that she’s scared, so our newest challenge is trying to reassure her that she’s getting better and making great progress, so she doesn’t need to be afraid.  Please pray not only for her continued progress but also for her to find some confidence in her abilities and some peace about her recovery.  She’s doing so well and the doctors have been pleased every day.